National Division I Top 25 Shifts; Florida Men, Oregon Women Again No. 1

NEW ORLEANS – The indoor track & field national computer rankings for NCAA Division I has reached the midway point of the season. It is just a few short weeks before teams go for the national title at the NCAA Indoor Track & Field Championships in College Station, Texas, on March 12-13. Despite many changes across the top 25, the grasp to the No. 1 spots by the Florida men and Oregon women remain strong. However, LSU has closed in tighter on the Gators in the men’s race.

As customary, fourth week rankings calculated and released by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) use data only from the current season (with exception of combined events) to formulate a team’s ranking score. With the big shift in information used, so too goes the top 25 with some teams making dramatic steps up or down the national landscape.

Men’s No. 1 Florida (168.05) gained points this last weekend in normal events – sprints and jumps, but a 3:56.84 run in the mile by Dumisane Hlaselo garnered the Gators additional ranking points as the fourth-best performance in the NCAA this year.

No. 2 LSU (163.68) clocked their fastest 4×400-meter relay time of the year – 3:06.56, and, Zedric Thomas improved his season’s best in the long jump to 26-6¼ (8.08m).

Making a leap into the national top three for the first time is No. 3 Indiana (95.37). The Hoosiers have been solid for the entire season up to this point and improved last weekend with a 9:30.78 time in the DMR, which currently the second-best in the NCAA this year. No. 4 Texas A&M (87.95) fell a spot despite again recording the NCAA’s best time of 3:05.48 in the 4×400. Arkansas jumped seven spots to No. 5 and No. 6 BYU launched 11 spots up the rankings with the help of miler Miles Batty’s 3:55.79.

On the women’s side, No. 1 Oregon (199.68) continues to add to their all-around qualifying marks. Sophomore Jordan Hasay recorded the NCAA’s best time in the mile last weekend with a 4:34.75 run at the Flotrack Husky Classic. Junior Alex Kosinski added the second-best time in the nation in the 5000.

LSU moved to No. 2, up one spot from the previous week. Texas is now in the national top three for the first time this year with improved marks across the board from visits to New Mexico’s Don Kirby Invitational and Washington’s Husky Classic. Arkansas moved up two spots to go to No. 4, while Texas A&M fell three spots to No. 5.

The SEC, Big 12, and Big Ten each have six teams in the national men’s top 25 and the SEC still adds in the conference index with 679.38 total ranking points among its institutions. On the women’s side, the Big 12 leads the SEC, 6-5, in teams in the top 25. For the first time this year, the Big 12 passed the SEC in cumulative ranking points as they currently maintain a 556.95-536.11 lead.

The purpose and methodology of the national team computer rankings is to create an index that showcases the teams that have the best potential of achieving the top spots in the national-title race – not as a method to compare teams head-to-head.

The Regional Index is determined using a similar method as national rankings, but on a smaller scale, comparing teams versus others within the same region. The result is a ranking that showcases squads with better all-around team potential — a group makeup critical for conference or similar team-scored events. A team may achieve a better regional ranking than a counterpart that has a better national ranking. Historically, some teams are better national-championship teams than conference-championship teams, having a few elite athletes that score very well in a diverse environment where teams do not have entries in more than a few events. Some teams are better at conference championships or similar team-scored events where they enter, and are competitive, in many of the events.

How a team fares in a national championship, conference championship, or scored meet with only a couple or few teams (like a dual or triangular) can be very different, given the number of events, competition, scoring, and makeup of entries — thus the rationale behind each of the ranking systems. Similar arguments about team makeup and rankings can also be found in swimming & diving and wrestling as their sports also have a similar trichotomy when it comes to team theory.